Victorian Semi - refurb blog

Victorian Semi - refurb blog

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FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
quotequote all
Following on from my previous small house I thought I follow others & use this post to document my new home refurbishment project. Will likely be a little slow with updates due to funds & skills (lack of both!)

It was previously bedsits (hence fire alarms & extinguishers) for 20yrs+ & empty for 8months prior to us moving in. It ticked a lot of boxes, 3 large beds, offstreet parking, cellar, character

Here it is the day we moved in (last month):





Living room


Hallway/stairs


Kitchen


Family room (off Kitchen)


Master bed


Notice the wife is pregnant - watching some of the house shows on TV I understand its the rule they must be before taking on a project biggrin



Mid bed


Rear bed


Rear bed view




FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
quotequote all
Here is the layout:




Plan for next year is to knock the kitchen through into the family room - this room will then become the kitchen & the old kitchen will be come the dinning room. Access will be from the hallway under the stairs

Will be hopefully knocking the sitting room into the dinning room to extend (& then blocking up the old entrance to the kitchen)

Upstairs layout will remain - cellar will have toilet & utility


FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
quotequote all
First jobs were to take out the sinks from every room, the 80's fireplace and the mini kitchenette in the bedroom. And remove some of the carpets (the smell was unbearable) but did a job of keeping the floor boards in a pretty good state.







Then stripping the woodchip wallpaper which is on every wall in the house! I'm lucky the wife is happy to live through this & help. Also, can you believe they still sell woodchip in shops?


FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
quotequote all
So bedrooms all prepared, walls chased for sockets for plasterers this week.










wolfracesonic

6,940 posts

126 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
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Looks like it will make a nice family home OPthumbup. What type of décor do you does your wife like, bleeding edge contemporary or more traditional Victorian? Hope you made plenty of stripper jokes to other half!

KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
quotequote all
Am ex-student house by virtue of a sink in every room?

northandy

3,495 posts

220 months

Sunday 19th October 2014
quotequote all
KTF said:
Am ex-student house by virtue of a sink in every room?
Our Victorian place has plumbing still in the bedrooms from sinks but has never been let, I assumed it was a common "update"

KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Monday 20th October 2014
quotequote all
northandy said:
Our Victorian place has plumbing still in the bedrooms from sinks but has never been let, I assumed it was a common "update"
Not for the living room though - both on the floor plan and the picture. From my student days, a sink in each room generally meant it could be rented out as a bedroom.

The master bedroom seems to have two which is even more bizarre.

The place looks like it is going to be gutted anyway so the current decor isnt really important. Was just curious more than anything.

FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Monday 20th October 2014
quotequote all
Kinda students - nurses mainly as the old hospital was walking distance (though now gone).

House used to have 5 double letting rooms (using the family room & the living room downstairs).



MiniMan64

16,863 posts

189 months

Monday 20th October 2014
quotequote all
Looks terribly similar to the place we took on two years ago, we'll get it finished one day!

Woodchip is the most heinous substance known to mankind, we got the beers and pizzas in, invited a few friends over and had a stripping party!

Extending the kitchen into the back room?

FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Monday 10th November 2014
quotequote all
Limited works completed so far due to the birth of my son, however plasterers managed to get 2 of the bedrooms completed so I put on a couple of coats of mist & had the floors sanded in the front master bed - makes a big difference.







Had some fun in the middle bed, a large corner was missing the boards & had some odd layouts on the joists - I'm guessing some type of mini lift as I understand the owners 25yrs back were very old. I managed to pick up some reclaimed pine boards but getting them up the stairs and into the room was not fun!



Also had the damp proofing around the front bay window, mainly due to a dodgy downpipe and blocked air brick - all sorted now


campionissimo

578 posts

123 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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Good work - looks like an interesting project.

It's not compulsory to have a pregnant spouse before a house renovation project. It normally happens after Kevin McCloud's first or second visit.

Yazar

1,476 posts

119 months

Monday 10th November 2014
quotequote all
Why floor sanded- exposed for aesthetics?

As I considered this in mine, but didn't make sense practically as gaps between non t&g = any small stuff dropped falling in-between the boards and if crumbs getting mouldy down there, any liquids falling to ceiling below (and to any electrics), less soundproofing and heat insulation.

Also are you adding insulation in as you go along, doesn't cost much if you have the boards up anyway- have just finished dropping in 100mm Rockwool between my 1st floor joist voids (for both acoustic and thermal) and will be doing ground floor too.

Edited by Yazar on Monday 10th November 19:13

FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Wednesday 26th November 2014
quotequote all
I didn't bother filling the gaps on the floors as they are only bedrooms so don't really have food or drinks up there - also they were pretty tight fitting in most places.

Small progress so far, stain/vanished the floors in 2 of the bedrooms and the plumber installed the rads. He had to call me up to show how out everything was and that the rads really were level!





Lots happening this week - UPVC sash windows are being installed, first couple look great, should be completed next week and I'l grab some photos

Scaffolding has gone up to sort out the chimneys, some pointing, slipped tiles and replace the gutters. Front chimney needs a bit more worked than I hoped but we want to keep it so will throw some money at itfrown


Dog Star

16,079 posts

167 months

Wednesday 26th November 2014
quotequote all
This is good stuff, OP.
I'll be keeping an eye on this thread - our house is of the same vintage and your damp solutions interest me. Unfortunately I've indulged in drink - so it'll be tomorrow.

dirty_dog

676 posts

175 months

Thursday 27th November 2014
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FunkyCEO said:
Here is the layout:

Good work.

Now, how do you get into bedroom 3?

illmonkey

18,112 posts

197 months

Thursday 27th November 2014
quotequote all
dirty_dog said:
FunkyCEO said:
Here is the layout:

Good work.

Now, how do you get into bedroom 3?
You don't, it's where the bodies are!

Also; subscribed.

FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Sunday 14th December 2014
quotequote all
Ha, not sure why it's not showing the door to the middle bed, its next the top of the stairs.

Almost all the windows are in but already need a clean from removing the old guttering







Here we've used the old bricks from the rear chimney that we removed - this is to reduce the width of the window in the smaller bathroom to give us a room to put the shower against the outside wall. Window will be installed tomorrow



Most of the walls have been re-pointed & broken old bricks replaced (again using those from the removed chimney). Gutters & fascias are going up this week and hopefully scafolding will be down before Xmas. Its some view from the top!!!



I've picked up some old pine doors from ebay and will finish stripping the door frames at some point in the next few weeks in preparation for hanging in Jan. Bedroom is almost finished


Beedub

1,954 posts

225 months

Sunday 14th December 2014
quotequote all
looks very spacious!! I've got a very old semi detach property myself, lots of work needed but taking my time and enjoy the space and huge garden, me and my son love it here.

FunkyCEO

Original Poster:

157 posts

179 months

Sunday 11th January 2015
quotequote all
Been a little slow with the Christmas break.

The builders have cracked on outside and installed all the new gutters/facias etc

The rear bedroom has the windows in and the plaster finished this week - just left for me to paint now




We fitted a door & windows in the rear bay which will eventually become the kitchen - as the back of the house is on a hill this becomes the first floor so the idea is to put a raised deck eventually. For now its just good to have double glazing!